Coating-machine



w. c0sTELL0,1R. COATING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED MAY 21, I920.

1,394,281. Patented Oct. 18, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

W. COSTELLO, In.

-COATING" MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 2|, 1920.

1,394,281, Patented Oct. 1921.

2 SHEET HEET 2,

U UNITED STATES WILLIAM COSTELLO, JR., OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA,

COATING-MACHINE.

1,394,281. Application filed May 21,

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM GosrnLLo, Jr., acitizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Coating-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in machines for coating cakes with icing or other material, of the type shown and described in the patent of P. D. Harton, No. 939,836, of November 9, 1909.

The object of my invention is to provide mechanism for removing excess icing or other coating adhering to the surface of the cakes after the application of the coating material.

In the attached drawings:

Figure 1, is a side elevation of that portion of a cake coating machine which involves my invention;

Fig. 2, is a front elevation coating machine;

Fig. 3, isa vlew 1n perspective of aporof the cake tion of my scraper attachment illustrating.

the details of the construction, and

Fig. 4, is a vertical section of my scraper attachment.

WVith reference to the drawings, 1 indicates the main frame of the machine, in which is mounted a tank 2 for holding the icing or'other substance which is to be applied to the cakes. Movably mounted in the frame above the tank 2 is a dipping frame 3, which is adapted to be vertically reciprocated in and out of the tank. Mounted in front of the dipping frame 3 on a level with the cake supporting platform 3 when the frame is in the elevated position, is a series of reciprocating and oscillating arms 4, which are adapted to remove the cakes from the frame 3 after they have been dipped in the icing tank, and to deposit the said cakes on a conveyor 5. The manner in which the various parts are operated-and given their particular movements is similar in all respects to the operating mechanism shown in the aforementioned Patent, No. 939,836, and consists of a main drive shaft 6 mounted in the lower part of the frame, said drive shaft carrying a number of cams which, through the necessary connecting links, give the dipping frame 3 and the removing arms 4 their respective movements at the proper relative times. i

The operation of the machine is bri fly Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 18, 1921.

1920. Serial No. 383,096.

as follows: Uncoated cakes having been deposited upon'the dipping frame 3 when it is 1n the position shown in Fig. 1, the frame is then lowered into the tank 2 so that the coatlng material therein comes in contact with the sa d cakes. The, frame is then raised out of the tank, and when it has again reached the position shown in Fig. 1, the arms 4 are moved forward until they lie underneath the cakes. The arms are then oscillated and at the same time moved back away from the frame, and-in this movement the cakes are removed from the dipping frame, and a further oscillation of the arms 4 then deposits the cakes upon the conveyer 5 with the coated side uppermost. The arms 4 are then returned to their original position and the cycle repeated.

The platform 3 of the frame 3 upon whlch the cakes rest consists of a row of spaced parallel 'wires, and the arms 4 are so disposed as to pass between the said wires when they are oscillated, the construction and operation of these parts being fully de scribed in the aforesaid Patent, No. 939,936.

It is necessary after the cakes have been removed from the coating bath, in order to prevent waste of the coating material and also to give a more uniform coating to the cakes, to remove the excess coating, and this I accomplish by passing a scraper under neath the platform 3 of the frame 3 upon which the cakes rest.

Mounted upon the top of the clipping frame is, in the present instance, a scraper frame 7 and mounted in bearings at the top of the frame 7 is a rock shaft 8. Secured to the outer end of the rock shaft 8 is an arm 9 slotted at the outer end and carrying loosely mounted in said slotted portion 10 a wrist-pin 11. -A link or connecting rod 12 attached to the wristpin 11 connects the said arm 9 with the upper end of the arm 13, which gives the reciprocatory motion to the arms 4, transmittedfrom one of the cams carried by the main drive shaft 6. Thus, should the connecting rod 12 be or become disconnected from the arm 13, the spring 21 will operate to rock the shaft 8 so as to shift the scraper bar to the side of the frame opposite that from which the arms 4 operate, whereby the said bar is moved to and retained in a position clear of the path of the said arms and all danger of breakage eliminated.

Mounted in parallel slots 01: track c,

' ed upon the said arms 16, and being adjusted to ride directly under the Wires of the platform 3 on the dipping frame 3 which carries the cakes.

Attached to the shaft 8 at the top of the frame 7 is an arm 18, the lower end of which is slotted, and a wrist-pin carried by the cross head 15 is established within this slotted portion 19 of the said arm 18. The shaft 8 also has secured thereto a short arm 20, to the outer end of which is attached one end of a spring 21 mounted upon the shaft 8, the

other end of which is secured in the frame 7, the tension of this spring operating continually to move the shaft 8 and bar 17 in the position opposite to that shown in the drawin s clear of the path of travel of the arms 4.

rom the foregoing description, the operation of'the devicewill be apparent. The scraper bar17 receives a reciprocatory motion. under the wires which support the cakes, such motion being transmitted through the medium of the rock shaft 8, arms 9 and 18, and connecting rod 12, from the mechanism which reciprocates'the arms 4. In this manner, 7 the relative positions of the scraper bar and the arms a are fixed, and the possibility of'the scraper arms rid- 'ing underneath the scraper bar is thus eliminated, since if this should occur and the arms 4: were then oscillated, as they are when the cakes are removed, the mechanism would be broken. As it is, the scraper bar advances 1n front of, and at the same time, as the arms 1, so that the excess 10mg or other coating is removed from the cakes immediately before they are removed by the arms 4 from the dipping frame. The connection between the scraper bar mecha nism and the mechanism which operates the arms 4 is such as to permit vertical reciprocation of the said scraper bar mechanism with the clipping frame, the connections in each case being pivotal in nature, as clearly shown in the drawings.

The oscillatory motion of the rock shaft 8 is converted into the horizontal reciprocatory motion of the scraper bar by means of the slotted ways 14:, 14C, and the slotted connection between the end of the bar 18 and the cross head 15.

In order, when the dipping frame is lowered into the coating tank with the cakes to be coated, to insure the cakes being dipped in the coating material to the desired depth and to prevent them from floating 'onthe surface of the coating material, I

have provided a dipper or presser bar 22, which is attached to the shaft 8, and lies directly above the cakes when they are 22 is shifted over to the opposite side with the scraper bar and so is out of the way of the arms 4 when they are oscillated.

The scraper mechanism herein described is simple and efficient of operation, -and can be easily uncoupled and removed for cleaning.

'I claim:

1. In a coating machine, the combination with a tank, of a movable frame having a platform adapted to move in and out of said tank, a scraper mounted on said frame, mechanism for reciprocating said scraper across the face of the platform, and means inclependent of said mechanism for. shifting the scraper to one side of the platformwhen the scraper is disconnected from said mechanism. V

2. In a coating machine, the combination with a tank, of a movable frame having a platform adapted to move in and out of said tank, a rock shaft mounted in the frame, a scraper operably connected with the rock shaft and adapted to travel across the face of the platform when the shaft is rocked, mechanism for rocking the shaft, and means independent ofthe rockingmechanism for shifting the scraper to one side of the platform when the shaft is disconnected from the said rocking mechanism.

3. In a coating machine, the combination with a tank, of a movable frame having a platform adapted to move in and out of said tank, horizontal tracks carried by the frame at each side thereof, cross heads adapted to travel in said tracks, said cross heads having downwardly depending arms,

a scraper adjustably secured to said arms upon the platform as the latter enters the tank, means for removing the coated object from the platform, and means for rocking the shaft to shift the bar from above the object before the said removing means comes into operation.

5. In a coating machine, the combination with a tank,'-of a movable frame having a platform adapted to support an object to of the plaatform, means for removing the be coated and to carry said object in and coated object from the platform, and means 10 out of said tank, a rock shaft mounted in for rocking the shaft to shift the bar from the frame, a bar carried by the shaft and above the object and to actuate the scraper adapted to overlie the said object resting before the said removing means comes into upon the platform as the latter enters the operation.

tank, a scraper operably connected with the shaft and adapted to travel across the face WILLIAM COSTELLO, JR. 

